“I don’t like this,” I said. “It doesn’t feel right. What if he—”
The gates swung wide. A tall, twig-like figure strode out from the shadows, a scythe hanging from his slender fingers. The curving blade dripped with blood that matched the droplets painted on Panos’s cheeks, forehead, and teeth.
Instinctively, I reached for Yuto’s hand. Panos latched onto my movement, and a hiss exploded from his lips. “You said it would be you and you alone, dragonlord. That includes your mortal girl here. I will not have her interfering with our battle.”
Yuto sneered. “You’re scared of a mortal.”
Panos laughed and took a step back into the safety of his fortress. “You and you alone, Yuto. That was the deal. I’ll return to the battlements if you insist upon it. Poisoned arrows will rain down on you all.”
Chuckling, Yuto turned and traced his glove along my cheek. A shiver went through my gut, my thighs clenching. Even now, even here, I wanted him. Maybe even more so, seeing him decked out in his battle splendor, ready to destroy a creature who had plagued my nightmares for far too long.
“Please step back with the others, my love.”
My heart squeezed tight. I didn’t want to leave him to face Panos alone, but I knew it was what I had to do. Besides, he was the strongest, most powerful male I’d ever met in my life. If he couldn’t destroy this creature, no one else could. With a nod, I reversed my steps and stood with the others.
Panos grinned. His path from the castle gates to the clearing where Yuto stood was slow and deliberate, like a kitten prowling for mice. He twisted his scythe in one hand and then the next, flashing the blood-drenched blade at Yuto’s impassive face.
The Lord of Dragons did not look phased at all. He stood with his broad shoulders thrown back, his chin high, and his body steady. If Panos rushed him, he would have a hell of a time making the lord back down.
And then the fae’s gaze flicked to me. “Orion, take the girl. Now.”
Strong hands circled my arms. They yanked me back, hard, and then the sharp point of a blade hit my neck. I froze, heart battling my ribs. My every instinct was to fight and claw my way away from him, but if I did, I knew he would not hesitate to slice that steel through my neck.
The shock on Yuto’s face almost destroyed me. He stared at me across the field, dumbstruck. It had all happened so suddenly, so unexpectedly, that he didn’t look as though he even understood what had happened.
That he had been betrayed. Again.
By Orion, one of his beloved friends.
Panos loomed behind Yuto, his scythe raised high. Yuto was so distracted by Orion’s knife against my throat that he did not see the dark fae bring the blade down on his head.
“Yuto, watch out!” I screamed.
Everything exploded into chaos. Aleka sprang toward her lord. But Eryx rushed toward me. The fury on Eryx’s face shook me to my knees, and I wasn’t even the one he wanted to destroy. I tried to see past him, to see if Yuto had dodged away just in time, but Orion whipped me around to avoid Eryx’s blow.
“Let go of me!” I screamed and then bit hard into the flesh of his hand. He tasted of fire and ash and iron.
“For fuck’s sake!” He shouted the words into my ear. “Get your teeth off me, you gross little creature.”
My heart thundered as he dug the blade deeper into my neck. I stilled as it cut my skin and fire spread the length of my chest. He hadn’t killed me—yet. But that did not mean he wouldn’t make me bleed.
“Orion, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Eryx stalked toward the two of us in our violent embrace, his eyes flashing. “You are one of us. We’re a Thunder. This kind of betrayal is unspeakable.”
“I am not Orion.” The voice that hissed in my ear no longer sounded like the familiar, jovial Orion I’d laughed with at the feast, had held as he’d wept over Callista, or had trusted with my life.
It was Panos.
I swallowed hard, my skin knocking against the blade. Tears of fear and fury filled my eyes. How was this even possible? Panos had been right there only a moment ago. And now he was behind me, as Orion. It made no sense at all.
Eryx’s eyes widened as he stumbled back. It gave me a momentary glimpse of the scene across the field. Panos stood waving his scythe at Yuto, whose spear was now chopped in two. Aleka lay motionless on the ground. I couldn’t see a wound, but that didn’t mean she was still alive. I focused on her chest, hoping to see it move as she dragged breath into her lungs, but—
Eryx stepped closer, shifting in front of them. “I don’t understand.”
Panos chuckled again. Or was it Orion? I tried to twist my head to see his face, but he yanked my hair to the side, blinding me with pain. “I can’t believe it took you so long to figure it out.”
Figure what out? I wanted to ask, but I kept my mouth shut. We needed to get Panos-Orion talking, distract him long enough for someone to make a move.
Eryx glanced at me, confusion etched into his deep black eyes. “Aradia, do you have any idea what’s going on?”
